Enough time has elapsed since the Democratic Convention to look back soberly and to assess aspects of that convention from hindsight. Michael Moore's statement on the Bill Maher's HBO program may have summarized Boston's Convention and the position of the national Democratic leadership. Moore, responding to Republican Conservative Congressman Dreier of California, said, "I am not a wimpy Democrats!" And so he implied that the Democrats are wimps and weaklings.

Indeed, when looking back at the scripted Democratic Convention, we saw a carefully screened and closely configured convention that tried to get all Democrats to say nothing derisive about Bush. This mellow tone is reminiscent of Al Gore's failed effort last presidential campaign; the nation ended up with George W. Bush. In Election 2000, Al Gore and Mrs. Gore decided that they did not want Bill Clinton campaigning for him because of Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky was too odorious for their taste. They loss. They played to the right-wingers who feigned a morality they may not really have possessed.

In this 2004 Presidential Campaign, the Kerry Campaign and most Democrats seem to have fallen into the same fear-of-right wingers paradigm as the Gore Campaign did, or else why was there such an attempt to be so civil with the Bush Administration, an administration that has no shadow of civility, morality, or regard for Americans lives?

The Democratic Convention did not play to its strength and based, but it pandered to a hopeful swing vote--new voters, the young vote, and the undecided vote. Blacks, minorities, and working class people have been the base of the Democratic Party for many years, and yet this Convention attempted to script Al Sharpton, the major person who spoke the concerns of Black America and most of the working class in America, into placating the public insults of George W. issued to Black people. We clearly saw a white media choice made of Blacks at that convention. Without a doubt, Sharpton was the best speaker at the convention and drew an arousing response from ALL there, but as soon as he spoke, most white commentators claimed him to be harmful to the Democratic Party's attempt to woo certain types of voters; they also declared that he was off the script, suggesting he harmed the Democratic Party's message. It is clear, he was off script, and that was a pleasant change from the stale 2000 Democratic Presidential Campaign of Al Gore.

Yes, Barack Obama is Black and brilliant; yes, he makes a good speech; yes, he is a rising political star in the nation, but the play the national mass media gave him was partly to overshadow the fact that they gave very little and very negative attention to Sharpton. That widespread coverage of Obama and lack of positive cover given to Sharpton indicate that the media was attempting to anoint for the white and Black communities a new Black leader. But by now, white America must know that they cannot pick leaders for Black people. That was tried in the case of Clearance Thomas; he has not been accepted since the first Bush appointed him to the courts some 12-years ago.

Barack Obama, unlike a Clearance Thomas has walked in and still does walk in the Black community, and he is accepted by that community, but unlike Clearance Thomas, he is no creation of white America that has given to Blacks as a leader. The Democratic Convention was fashioned as a family gathering that is attempting to show its neutral side to America. No hostile Blacks, no left wing progressives, just moderate and right-leaning Democrats that attempt to ingratiate themselves into the good graces of the American people.

The Democrats' campaign strategy of ingratiating themselves upon the American electorate won't work. It started in Boston with their scripted convention that would not allow anyone to tell the truth about this administration's failed presidency. That strategy is as Michael Moore implied, wimpy. And it won't work to gain the presidency for Kerry.

The Bush Administration has behaved in extremes, using fighting terrorism as a label to be hung upon every untoward action that administration takes; Bush and his campaign will do anything to stay in power. Those who go against them will suffer outrageous, even illegal, consequences, ala Wilson's wife, David Kay, Hans Blix, Colin Powell, etc. The soft approach of giving Bush a pass on starting elective wars using US funds that our children will not be able to pay off, lying to the American people, etc., only encourages them to continue because there are no limits, they will suppose, to their power.

It was no error when Bush said, as the terrors think of every way they can to harm the US, SO DOES HE! This administration is harming this country in ways that will destroy the American people and this nation. If Democrats allow the Republicans to pass on the harms they are doing to this nation, one can only assume that they are in collusion with them. []